Monday, March 31, 2008

Five or Less

I'm finally getting around to reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I have to tell you, it's freaking me out.

Corn is starting to scare me. It's everywhere, in everything, and it's kind of creepy. I'm starting to feel like, even though I don't eat meat, if I eat processed foods, and therefore corn, I'm supporting factory farms, because I'm supporting the system that creates so much corn we end up forcing it into animals. Ack!

(P.S. Know I'm not knocking the farmers, here -- they get screwed in this system just as much as the animals and the consumers do.)

I realize I may be taking a very oversimplified view, here. However, I'm going to make a few changes that I hope will minimize my consumption of #2 Field Corn. (Shudders!)

First, I'm going to try to eat as many whole foods as possible. I feel like I do a reasonably good job of this already, but there are still processed foods that creep into my diet -- breakfast cereal, condiments, crackers, junk at work, etc. With this change, I'm going to institute the "Five or Less" rule -- the food that I buy from now on will contain five or less ingredients. There may be one or two exceptions, but for the most part, I'm going to try and stick to this rule as much as humanly possible!

Second, I'm going to research participating in a CSA this summer. This may not be a feasable option for me, since they tend to produce in volume. With that understanding, I may just try to frequent the farmer's market on a more regular basis.

Third, I'm going to cut back on eating out. (And when I do eat out, I'm going to choose smarter restaurant options -- restaurants that try to use local, sustainable, organic ingredients.)

Read The Omnivore's Dilemma, if you haven't already!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been wanting to read this book, it sounds very interesting! I think your "five or less" plan is a great idea. We all need to eat less processed food, and support whole foods!

J said...

This book highly affected me as well. Another good book on a related topic is called 'Coming Home to Eat'. It really helps one see the destruction something so basic as food causes on not only the environment but on social customs and cultures.

funwithyourfood said...

Oh man, there is NO way i could read this. I bet I'd never eat corn, unless it's on the cob :)

Teddy

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

It IS frightening what's in food, and how apparent corn is - eek! Eating wholesome, natural foods is the best way to go.

Carrie™ said...

Good luck to you. Five or less sounds tough, but probably not as hard as one would think. You're probably getting ready for your trip, so enjoy yourself, take lots of photos and can't wait to hear all about it upon your return.

Judy said...

I really need to read this book, I have been hearing so many good things about it. Never knew the corn connection either.

bazu said...

I was reading about corn in Vegetarian Times this week, and it started to freak the hell out of me too! They made a strong point that if consumers would just eschew corn (and its crazy derivatives) that would turn all of agriculture on its head! I think that would be such a wonderful positive direction for us to go in, and that's why I admire Whole Foods and similar stores that have a strong anti-high fructose corn syrup stance.